Heading into PFL Season 2, Andre Harrison has unfinished business

The bright lights were shining at Madison Square Garden this past New Years Eve but unlike the beginning of the first ever Professional Fighters League (PFL) season, in which Andre “The Bull” Harrison starred in and took home a victory, he had to watch it like every other fan and see Lance Palmer take home a million dollar check. It was a tough pill for Andre Harrison to swallow as he suffered his first ever defeat when he faced Palmer in the semifinals of PFL season 1. Which is one of the many reasons Harrison is back for PFL season 2, he has unfinished business to attend to.

The fight between Palmer and Harrison was a rematch, Harrison had previously defeated Palmer under the World Series of Fighting banner to become their featherweight champion. The difference in the fights according to Harrison was his lack of aggression.

“I’d say one of the big differences is that I didn’t really let my hands go in that second fight. He was able to get going on his wrestling and not really have to worry about too much coming at him. In the first fight, I was able to drop him first. After that, all his shots he took, there was something there, he couldn’t just come in any old kinda way. I think that’s the big difference, next time around, I gotta make sure I have a bigger output.”

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Part of the reason that Harrison didn’t have the same output as he did in the first fight was that the Palmer fight was Harrison’s second of the night. It was also the first time he fought fighting in one night (PFL’s playoff system has two rounds, the first fight is two rounds, the second is three rounds). He isn’t taking anything away from Palmer but now he says he understands how tough it is to do and that he has to prepare for it.

“It was my first time doing a tournament style fight, so, I just got done being in a war and my body was coming down, I was still a little tired from that first fight. By the time we got out there, I maybe had like a 20- or 30-minute turnaround till I had to fight again.”

For Harrison, the fight he wants most this season is the Palmer fight. He has said in the past that he is a spiteful person. He told his manager Matt Culley on his podcast “Fight Cave” that when he first started training, his teammate leg kicked him hard and he ensured by the time his first amateur fight came around, he got him back. So rest assured, Harrison wants Palmer one more time for the rubber match.

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“I think that’s something that has to happen, I think a lot of people want to see that. Definitely got to get that going.”

Now there is a possibility to get the fight going as PFL season 2 is in full swing. The welterweights and female lightweights kicked the season off on May 9 and the featherweights and male lightweights will pick up the action on May 23. Andre Harrison will face Peter Petties (8-4) in his opening bout. The Bull was originally supposed to face Freddy Assuncao and then when Assuncao pulled out, he was scheduled to face Luiz Eduardo Garagorri. But to Harrison, he has already had 21 fights in the cage (20-1) so he is not concerned about a last-minute replacement two weeks out of a fight.

“I fought a lot, a lot of different people, grapplers, strikers, jiu jitsu personnel, to me, at this point in my career, I don’t really care who I fight. It’s the same thing, you gotta go in there and implement your game plan, otherwise you run the risk of losing. So, I’m just looking to go out there and implement my game plan and dominate the best way I know how and get the W.”

Petties is a crafty striker who has faced tough competition including fighting Julio Arce on the Contender Series, Caio Uruguai for Titan FC and defeating Tim Dooling in his professional debut. And his game plan his quite simple.

“Pressure, gotta apply pressure.”

With that pressure, he plans on finishing Petties.

“I see a second-round stoppage.”